Snargle and Nark
Snargle was born in Greznek, and throughout his childhood never left. Like many in that dismal place he had no real conception that there was life beyond that was better than the filthy scavengers' existence the bulk of the population there live through. One day through Snargle was trying to steal from a sack left unattended by some traveling merchant, but the merchant returned too soon and he was forced to hide in the sack, resulting in him being carried off as an unknown and undesirable cargo. When he emerged he found himself in a world of beauty beyond his wildest dreams - light streaming from a vivid blue sky, enormous mushrooms dozens of feet tall with solid stems that reminded him strangely of that stuff some doors were made of and frilly greens bits at the top, it was all so beautiful! There was also so much to eat! A lifetime of learning to survive by scraping together mould and garbage made finding food in this verdant sunlit world easy and Snargle soon became a child of the forest. Then one day he found a place that wasn't like the forest - there were no trees, only grass, and lots of animals of only one type. But what magnificent animals they were! Stout and furry and with mighty tusks and huge snouts that must have been so good at smelling all manner of things. A human man was watching them and when Snargle asked why the man explained it was his heard of pigs. "By why do you keep a herd like this?" "To make sausages." The man replied. Snargle was horrified! Sausage was the the only good food you could get in Greznek, sometimes traders bought it from other places, and it was delicious. But it was made from these beautiful creatures?! Snargle flew into a rage, killing the farmer, and fled into the forest with the pig herd. He vowed that, to repent for having eaten so many of their kind, he would dedicate his life to protecting this herd. He helped them avoid predators and learned how to use their keen sense of smell to help him find food, eventually becoming their master. He found that the elves of Tsuen would pay high prices for a strange little ugly fungus that grew around the roots of great oak trees that the pigs sniffed out, and he became the city's soul truffle merchant, finding the elves much more respectful of nature than the barbaric humans. But sadly the city fell and Snargle and his pig herd retreated into the depths of the forest, living in blissful isolation from the wars raging in the civilised world, until one night he awoke to din of pained and fearful oinking to find a hideous red creatures with horrid claws, large bat wings and eyes of fire tearing his pigs apart, cramming whole animals into it's mouth, despite being little bigger than Snargel himself. Snargle valiantly went into battle to save his adopted trottered children, finally slaying the demon. But he was too late, all but one of the herd had been killed by the fiend and eaten to satisfy its seemingly endless hunger. He had failed in his vow, so the only thing left to do now was to march on Tsuen and remove this horrible abomination from the land, that harmed the most beautiful creatures of the world so. Climbing on the back of the last member of his herd, Nark, Snargle prepared for battle...